Press Release
September 12, 2019

DSWD to provide special trust funds for orphaned, abandoned, neglected children

Orphaned, neglected, abandoned and voluntarily-committed children shall be provided with a special trust fund amounting to P 2,500 quarterly by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This is the intent of Sen. Bong Revilla when he filed Senate Bill No. 1021, "An Act Providing for a National Program to Support and Care for Abandoned, Neglected and Voluntarily Committed Children, Creating a Special Trust Fund."

Pursuant to the proposed measure, beneficiaries will be provided with a trust fund from the time they are taken in by the DSWD until it matures when the beneficiary reaches legal age, unless terminated earlier by the DSWD due to the death or ineligibility of the recipient.

If passed into law, Bong Revilla's bill shall aid 1.8 million orphan and abandoned children in the country, between ages 5 and 14, who might already be engaged in child labor and struggle to survive on $1.25 a day or less.

The DSWD, in coordination with other government agencies tasked with caring for the welfare and development of children and the youth, shall establish a transparent mechanism that would provide a grant of a reasonable lump sum grant to abandoned, neglected or voluntarily committed children who would be eligible for the program.

A trust fund account in any commercial bank or in a number of commercial banks shall be opened in the name of potential beneficiaries under a memorandum of agreement to be entered into by a commercial bank and the DSWD.

To maintain the real purchasing value of the said amount through the years, it shall be increased by the DSWD every three (3) years in proportion to the average inflation rate for the said period as certified by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

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